


all the stars were shining bright (and then she kissed me)

by zenithaurora



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kisses, Korra is an awkward flirt, asami is a dork, if nickelodeon it's not going to do it i'll do it myself, they deserved to share one kiss in the finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29127273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenithaurora/pseuds/zenithaurora
Summary: the first time I tasted your lips was the moment I knewbesides ivy-covered stone walls, hiding the light of your eyesin the comfort of your calm words in the middle of the nightin the kindness of your delicate smile when I blushfinding safety in your reassuring arms in spite of the painyour brightness and beauty put to shame the bluest skiesin the crossroads and the darkness, you’ll still be my guidelightin the drained grey days, you paint the world purple with your brushi yearn for forever, with the tinkling of the glasses filled with champagnebecause as long as you live, I am homeOr, the story of Korra and Asami told in kisses.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38
Collections: Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021





	all the stars were shining bright (and then she kissed me)

**Author's Note:**

> Teen rating it's for some swearing and brief mentions of sex.

_I. the first time i tasted your lips was the moment i knew_

“Want to sit with me for a minute? I’m not ready to get back to the party just yet” Korra asks Asami.

She sits on one of the steps, with her arms crossed on her lap. She leaves enough space for Asami to sit by her side, and she is trying (and failing) not to stare at her: stare at her light green eyes that reminds her of the leaves of the lime trees that garnish Air Temple Island, the way her lilac eyeshadow creates a perfect picture, the barely visible freckles on the slope of her nose, her plump and alluring lips. She averts her sight in a swift motion. _Stop admiring her like a creep!_

She takes a deep breath and exhale, braving herself. “I don’t think I’ve ever really apologized”. She is proud of the person she has become. However, apologizing, baring herself and admit her faults, it’s still something that she struggles with.

Asami lifts her head, her brows burrowed. “For what?”. Her genuine confusion surprises Korra.

“For being gone all that time” Korra rubs the back of her neck and lowers her head when it gets harder to look at her in the eyes, “for not coming back sooner”.

She stares at her hands for what it seems an eternity, waiting, expecting (hoping?) for them to know all the answers, to do what they always do and take action. A pair of soft, pale hands interlaces with her own.

“You don’t need to apologize for anything” Asami proclaims with such conviction that it almost takes her breath away. Asami just smiles. “I’m just so happy you’re here now”.

_Is she blushing? No fucking way._

Asami turns her eyes away from hers. “I don’t think I could’ve handle losing you and my father on the same day”. She hunches, her stare lost in the blues and the pinks of the horizon.

Korra isn’t sure what is she supposed to say to someone who has just lost their only remaining parent, but she tries regardless. “I’m so sorry about what happened.”

 _That’s good, right?_ But then she notices how Asami is struggling to keep the tears from flowing down her cheeks and she can’t stop herself from hugging her. Even if she can’t fix what happened, even if she knows there is nothing, she can do to spare Asami from experiencing this grief, at least she can let her know that she will always have her. Always.

“Thank you. I’m just glad I was able to forgive him” Asami whispers to her ear. She just holds her, hoping that she understands how _not_ alone she is.

When they let go, a sneaking tear runs freely down to the rim of her mouth, but this time, Asami is bearing a soft smile.

“So… what now? Back to the dancefloor?” Korra suggests, even though deep down she just wants to stay here with her, in this little space of isolation and vast sky that for the moment belong to them and _only_ them.

“Sorry, I’m kind of all danced out,” Asami says, “honestly, after everything that’s happened these few months, I could use some vacations”.

A light flicker in her mind. “Let’s do it! Let’s go on a vacation; just the two of us. Anywhere you want”.

Just the two of them. Anywhere Asami wants. Her heart leaps once and then twice, and Korra isn’t sure whether it’s a heart attack or just excitement of being with _her_. Just the two of them. Anywhere they want.

Asami is looking at her with her usual tenderness, but there is also a certain twinkle in the way her sight is fixated on her. Korra doesn’t know what takes over her; one moment she is lost in her eyes, and in other, her lips meet hers. It lasts for only a second, right after her brain makes the connection that she just kissed Asami when she probably thinks they’re just friends.

“I’m so sorry!” Korra says flapping her hands side by sides, trying to dissuade the situation. Asami just stares at her with a dumbfounded look plastered all over her face.

_Fuck. I fucked up so bad. Fuckfuckfuckfuck._

She is ready to spell another myriad of apologies and promises not to cross that line again when two gentle hands hold her jaw steady and her lips meet hers again. This time, she is able to sink in the feeling of her lips. Her smooth and impossibly silky lips, and she can even taste the strawberry pie they shared before she came here. Korra is not exactly sure of what she is supposed to do, but she assumes that putting her arms around her waist is something Asami might like.

Right before she can drown in the feeling of _her_ , Asami pulls back, one of her hands still laying in the curvature of her jaw. Asami blushes again ( _so she was blushing before!)_ and Korra feels like she could just live in her eyes until her next reincarnation.

 _What am I supposed to say? Quick! Do something before she loses all interest!_ “So… I take you liked the idea of going on a vacation” she mumbles.

_Why are you so stupid?_

Asami lowers her sight and bites her bottom lip. Her cheeks resemble two lanterns glowing in the moonlight tone of her skin. “I’ve always wanted to see what the Spirit World’s like”.

“Uh”, Korra struggles to not allow her voice to sound like a squeak and clears her throat, “sounds perfect”.

With the sky wearing a thin membrane of clouds in shades of pink and blue, and as they walk through the mangroves in direction to the light green beam that is the new portal to the Spirit World, Korra thinks this might just be a perfect new beginning.

_II. besides ivy-covered stone walls, hiding the light of your eyes_

Asami lets out a frustrating sigh once Mr. Hoshino _finally_ leaves her alone. In spite of the admiration she feels towards the man for his intricate and thought-provoking poetry, she is relieved that he decided to bore someone else. If she were frank, she couldn’t understand how such a brilliant man was so incredibly dull.

She rummages through the crowd of attendees, her eyes never staying in the same person for longer than needed. A hand pokes her shoulder and her lips immediately curls upwards when she notices it’s Korra.

_Calm down, keep it cool._

“Bored?” Asami asks.

She could slap herself. _Why are you like this?_

“I was talking with Tenzin but then he said something about ‘Meelo’ and ‘fire’ and that he had to go,” she shrugs, “eh, I’m sure he got it under control”.

They remain like that, standing close to each other, their fingertips barely gracing while they sip on their glass of grape wine. Korra has been quiet and distant for the major part of the party and Asami doesn’t know why.

“I don’t really like grape wine. Or rice wine” Korra mentions out of the blue.

Asami snorts. “It’s that your way of telling me you want to leave?”.

Korra doesn’t reply back, and instead interlaces her hand with hers. Asami let her pave the way through the party, her sight fixated in the plush of the neckline of her navy-blue dress.

They go down a wide staircase and then to a narrow passage she didn’t even know it existed. Asami thinks that there are paintings hung on the walls, but her eyes never leave Korra. At last, they reach a garden, the only place in the palace that seems to be devoid of the bustling crowd of the ballroom.

She pulls away from Korra, and touches the soft petals of a light pink rose-carnation. Her eyes marvels at the sight of the garden, which is brimming with flowers of all kinds. It reminds her a bit of the time she went on a vacation to the Spirit World with Korra. Her eyes couldn’t make sense of the extent and variety of colors that existed in that place.

“Happy birthday” Korra says in hushed tones, her hands crossed behind her back.

“I thought I already got my present this morning” Asami teases. She touches the purple sugilite pendant hanging from her neck.

“It’s just that—,” Korra sighs and lowers her gaze, “I’m just sorry that I dragged you to this boring party instead of doing something that you actually enjoy. And I remembered you like flowers, so I asked Fire Lord Izumi for a favor and…” she shrugs nonchalantly, but her eyes are tight and marked by dark circles, “this is the favor”.

Asami feels her eyes stinging and closes the distance between them so she can kiss her. A profound, warm kiss, with her hands holding her jaw, while Korra explore the expanse of her bare back. She groans when Korra softly bites her lower lip to allow a further probing of her mouth.

They pull away, gasping for air, their succeeding laugh lost in the humidity of the air and the darkness of the garden.

_III. in the comfort of your calm words in the middle of the night_

She doesn’t know where she is.

The path she is walking seems to be made of dirt at first sight, but it sinks beneath the soles of her bare feet like quicksand. Her surroundings remind her of the plain walls of the main house at Air Temple Island, but the gelid air that brushes the shell of one of her ears resembles the inhospitable climate of her birthplace. She doesn’t know where she is, but what she does know, it’s that she doesn’t want to be here.

She hears a distorted sound that resembles the static of one of the first models for the radio she had at her childhood home. She doesn’t know where it is coming from, but her heart pounds with such fury that it feels like it’s going to jump out her brittle chest. For a moment, she believes there is someone looking at her from behind. However, when she turns around, her shadow hides in the twilight. The ground below her seems to trembles and it’s getting harder to stay balanced.

Out of the darkness, a dark figure appears. Its limbs are strong and muscular, the rest of its body covered by a pair of long shorts and a ragged tank top, and its hair hides most of its face. However, the most distinguished feature of the odd creature is its their eyes. Its shining, vacant white eyes boring into the essence of her spirit.

The figure it’s a direct reflection of her being, the parts of herself trapped deep within, tied tight with vines and kept hidden beneath her efforts. Her reflection focuses her sight on her, the muscles of arms and her jaw clenching.

Her brain screams her to run away, but her feet are tangled in the mangroves and she stumbles down to the ground. The plant climbs over her body, suffocating her lungs. Her reflection approaches her with sluggish movements, and as she looms over her, it only spits her name out in a repeated sequence.

_Korra, Korra, Korra…_

“Korra! Korra!” Asami shakes her shoulder with desperation.

Korra rises up in an abruptly. She gasps for air, the humid weather of the Fire Nation taking away all the oxygen out of the room.

_I can’t breathe. I’m going to die._

Asami lays a firm but gentle hand on her shoulder and forces her to look at her eyes. “Hey, Korra, listen to me, please? Deep breaths”.

_I can’t breathe. I’m going to die. I can’t breathe. I’m going to die._

“Can you tell me five things you can see in the room?” Asami asks, her tone showing a slight edge.

Korra tries to think but her head is foggy and the edges are a smudged black.

_Focus!_

“I—I see…,” she wheezes out, “a mattress, the bedframe, uhm,” she swallows, her throat too dry to speak, “the bedsheets, my shirt… you” she can barely name the five things but she does.

Asami rubs the back of her neck with one of her thumbs, while her other hand holds Korra’s. “That’s really good. Can you tell me four things you can listen?”.

_I can’t breathe. I’m going to die._

“I,” she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, “there’s people on the streets, maybe some food vendors, I think there is people cleaning outside and,” she tries to focus on the existent sounds in a night as quiet as this one, “the wind chimes from that flower shop. You´re talking. That’s four sounds”.

_I—_

“I think I feel better,” Korra sighs and rests her head on the space between Asami´ shoulder and her collarbone, “thank you”.

Asami wraps her arms around her body, and there is something very comforting in the way her hug holds her tight. Like a welcome type of suffocation, one that instead of trying to kill her, is offering safety and protection.

They stay like that for a couple minutes, breathing into each other’ scent. The only noise Korra can hear is the lulling heartbeat of her girlfriend. Finally, Asami pulls away and gives her a soft, chaste kiss in the center of her forehead.

“Let’s try to get some sleep”.

Korra waits for Asami to lay down on her back so she can place her head below her breasts. With the sound of her heartbeat and the feeling of her fingers playing with the strands of her hair, Korra manages to fall asleep.

There are no more nightmares that night.

_IV._ _in the kindness of your delicate smile when I blush_

_I’m going to do it; I got this._

Korra stares at Asami, or rather the lower part of Asami, which is currently only covered by a pair of lacy underwear. She traces the line of her legs, making sure not go anywhere closer. She can’t help but to gulp and avert her eyes to somewhere safer, like the pair of black pants that are thrown across the floor and— _no, that’s not safer, look somewhere else!_

_What am I doing here?_

Her sight is back on what is front of her. She can’t keep staring or she will start looking a creep. Or a naïve child, whichever is worse. She doesn’t know whether she should just remove her underwear all at once or if she should keep prolonging it.

_I should’ve asked Kya when I had the chance. Wait; would it be weird to go to my past reincarnation’s daughter for sex advice?_

“You really don’t want to do this, do you?” the gentle voice of Asami disrupts her train of thought and her smooth hand falls on one of her shoulders.

She feels distracted by the sight of her swollen, tender lips, but reacts quick enough.

“I do! I really do! It’s just—,” she sighs and tries to conceal the glowing blush that is growing on her cheeks with every passing second, “I’m not sure how”.

She bows her head and sits back on her heels, trying to avoid covering her eyes like a small kid. Asami gets close to her and removes the hands away from her face with gentle patience.

“You’ve never done this before” Asami observes.

“No” Korra admits.

Asami nods and purses her lips. “Come on, we don’t have to do anything tonight” she states as she pulls her close to her chest and nearer the headboard so they can remain sitting.

“I’m so sorry”.

Asami glances down on Korra and kisses the crown of her head. “You don’t have to apologize for anything” she reassures her.

Korra doesn’t say anything in return and Asami doesn’t expect her to do it. She tightens her hold on her. “I love you”.

Her body relaxes a little bit, wrapped in her arms. “I love you too”.

She will never get tired of saying that.

_V._ _finding safety in your reassuring arms in spite of the pain_

Asami waits, the tickling of the wall clock drilling in her ears.

Her hands have always been praised. It’s strange thing to say but it’s true.

Her father used to say she had nimble, quick hands; very appropriate for someone as inventive and innovative as her, especially considering it when paired up with the fact that she possesses an extremely meticulous and precise eye for invention. Her dad’s colleagues and then her own colleagues always agreed and affirmed what her dad had stated many times during her childhood.

Korra loves her hands. She recalls one warm evening at the South Pole (an odd occurrence for that place), when they confessed to each other the physical parts they were most attracted from the other partner. Asami told her that there was something incredibly hypnotizing about the toned muscles of her back and the flexing of her biceps. However, she admitted the one physical attribute that she loved the most about her was the way her smile would crook. Korra blushed but proceeded by saying that she loved her light green eyes and her pronounced waist, but most of all, she loved her hands. She loved how slender and graceful her hands were, how, when Asami couldn’t come up with the correct words, her soft hands did all the work.

Her hands are sweating now, a ball of metal setting on the pit of her stomach. Her clammy hands are not capable of holding the piece of paper that was given to her.

All that has been told to her it’s that Korra decided to face Jiangshan and stop his small guerrilla from advancing furthermore into the mainland of the Earth Kingdom.

Korra had been injured.

She is taken back to that time when she was just nineteen.

_Her hands are clasped together with such strength that her blood circulation is almost cut, and her heart is beating with so much of a brute force that is threatening to jump out her chest. There is an odd non-stopping ringing in her ears._

_Tarloq is holding her daughter, who, with grey edges in the corners of her eyes, is barely hanging to the tendrils of existence. Jinora says something she can’t hear. Su is suddenly leaning over her. She moves her hands in a graceful manner, and small lumps of something grey comes out of her mouth and placed on the ground. Korra coughs a few times. She gives in the exhaustion and relaxes on the embrace of her father._

_A sense of dread forsakes Asami’s body, some of the tension that was holding her together leaving from her small frame._

_Maybe she really is in love with her._

It’s all too similar to before.

Asami waits and waits, sitting on an uncomfortable chair. Her right knee is restless, bobbing up and down. The sunbeam that was heating up the bare expanse of the shoulder facing the window leaves to make place to the first hints of a winter evening moon.

The door snaps open and her head snaps with it, decontracting the stiff bones of her neck. A nurse comes out and points her with a tilt of a head to where Korra is resting. She follows him.

Asami braces herself for the possibilities: Korra barely hanging onto life, Korra facing another long-term major injury, Korra giving in the despair, Korra—

“Hi, Asami!” Korra chirps from the bed she is laying down, her usual crooked smile plastered on her face.

Asami takes in the sight of Korra.

There is a thick white bandage going around her head and covering most of her forehead. A deep maroon shade decorates most of the left side of her face, going over her barely opened eye, and down to her cheek, almost reaching the cornices of her lips. There is a visible bump growing on the same side of her face.

Her left shoulder is hunched in a weird position (most likely dislocated). Her left arm is in a cast and there are more bandages covering her ribcage (most likely broken). There are more bruises covering her calves, but she gives no major importance to those.

“What happened?” Asami inquires. Now that she has first-hand evidence that Korra is fine, she is genuinely curious to know what took place.

Korra glances up to her. Her eyebrows are furrowed and her eyes are narrowed, but when she tries to speak, nothing comes out. She just shrugs and goes back to her previous position of staring at the ceiling.

“We gave her some strong medication for her injuries,” the nurse behind her chimes in, “we´re going to keep her in observation until tomorrow noon. I’ll leave you two alone.”.

Asami nods, watches the nurse leave the room, and sits down on the edge of the bed.

“I missed you!” Korra says, stretching the last syllable.

Asami chuckles with affection and leans down to give her a deep kiss on the lips while being mindful of her injuries, finally releasing all the fear and dread she had been harboring for the better part of the day.

“I missed you too”.

_VI._ _your brightness and beauty put to shame the bluest skies_

Korra slams the door closed with such force that the hinges almost bolt off, and slides down. She places her head on top of her knees and lets out a frustrating grunt. She swears that the next time Councilman Tamura tries to convince her of deviating the funding going into the health department of the city to another one of his _so_ innovative projects in the commerce sector she is going to scream.

She lifts her head only to notice that the living room is a cluttered mess. She sighs as she stands up with the intention of examining the foreign objects that are currently invading her home.

There are rusted pieces of metal and discarded, seemingly non-functioning scraps of machinery lying on the dark floor made of wooden planks. A tower of white blank pages lies on the low table, right by a stack of sharpened and unsharpened pencils.

Korra closes her eyes and press her fingertips on each of one of her temples in a circular movement in a futile attempt of halting the incoming headache.

_Deep breathes, deep breathes, deep breathes…_

“Korra, you’re back!” Asami beams, her head popping out the doorframe that is the entrance to their kitchen.

She steps out, cleaning her blackened hands with an already dingy handkerchief and one pencil precariously balancing behind her left ear. She tilts her head down and pecks her on the lips. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll clean after I’m done”.

“What are you doing?” Korra questions in a monotonous tone, trying to keep her weariness from bursting afloat.

Asami offers her a teacup filled to its brims with jasmine tea and proceeds to rummage through the pile of papers. “You know how you and Mako use firebending to propel yourselves upwards when you’re in the air?”.

Korra only hums in agreement, too busy drinking her tea to answer back.

“Well, it gave me the inspiration for this” she grins widely as she shows her a carefully drawn design.

“Is that a backpack?” Korra asks genuinely confused.

Asami nods with eagerness. “Just like a backpack, but you don’t actually put anything inside of it. Here,” Asami points her hand to the inside of the backpack,” is the fuel tank, and here, “she points to both sides of the backpacks, “are the jet engines”.

Korra puts her teacup down so she can further inspect the invention. “You created this in one day?” she marvels, astonished by her girlfriend’s intelligence and creativity.

“Well, I just found some unused parts for the satomoviles and I already got the inspiration, so,” she shrugs, “it wasn’t that big of a deal” she dismisses nonchalantly.

Korra closes the gap between and holds her wrists down to the sides of her body.

“No, no way,” she shakes her head, “you’re not going to sell yourself short. You’re amazing” she professes.

Asami can’t help the red blush from showing on her face. Although part of her wants to refute the compliment, she opts for accepting it silently.

Korra pecks her on the tip of the nose. She pulls away and begins grabbing the pieces of metal and putting them in a corner.

“What are you doing?” Asami asks.

“I’m helping you clean so I can take you out for dinner,” Korra approaches her and wraps her arms around her waist, letting them rest on the curve of her behind, “so we can celebrate how brilliant you are”.

Asami doesn’t bother hiding her blush anymore, and proceeds by kissing her until they’re both gasping for air.

_VII. in the crossroads and the darkness, you’ll still be my guidelight_

Sunlight shines through the gap between the curtains, directly to the expanse of empty bedsheet in front of her face. The morning is the exact balance between warmth and coldness that warrants staying hidden in the shelter of heavy blankets. 

She is admiring the particles floating in the inpouring sunbeam when the sudden sound of a pan clanking against the floor jolts Asami out of bed. Still in her lilac silk nightgown, she picks a robe a couple of shades darker from the rack beside the large dark mahogany wardrobe that was a present from Lin when she Korra decided to move together permanently. She grabs her glove from the first drawer of her bedside table and puts it on.

_Who would even trespass someone’s home before noon?_

Another sound coming from the kitchen reaches her ears and she braces herself for the possible threat. She makes measured, silent steps down the staircase and pounces to the entrance of the kitchen, her hand extended, ready for the imminent attack coming from the intruder.

_Oh._

“Sorry, Asami! I didn’t mean to wake you up” Korra says as she stands up from the floor and hits her head with a hanging pan. She rubs the growing bump on her forehead, a glistening grin present on her face “Did I wake you?”.

“Not at all” Asami deadpans.

As she takes a look over the kitchen, her eyes widen, dread setting in the pit of her stomach at the thought of having to clean this up before they can eat breakfast.

Their cooking pot has darkened edges in the brinks, and its lid has a melting hole right in the middle of it. The fumes of the burned material hurt her nostrils and she have to turn away from it. She gives Korra a questioning look.

“The rice wasn’t cooking quick enough so I just decided to use firebending directly on the rice” Korra shrugs.

Asami just nods and moves to the other pot, which contains a weird mush of colors that is floating with no direction. “What about this?” she asks.

“I boiled some vegetables to put on the rice,” Korra replies and starts counting with her fingers, “yam, spinach, white radish and bean sprouts”.

Asami takes one look to the insides of the pot, identifying each color to a vegetable until her eyes can’t decipher one. She picks a suspicious-looking mushy purple _thing_. “What is this?”.

Korra crouches so her sight it’s at the same height as the thing that Asami is holding. She bites her lower lip, pensive. “I’m not sure”.

Asami places the thing on the table. She tilts her head at the burned spherical white _something_. She is about to ask what is it when Korra intercedes.

“I bought some bao from the weird guy down the street like an hour ago, and then I tried to heat them but— “.

“—But it didn’t work as expected” Asami interrupts.

Korra sighs and lowers her head, her sight fixated on her feet. “No, it didn’t”.

Asami approaches her and raises her head so she can meet her eyes. “Babe, you know we’re both useless when it comes to cooking” she rubs her thumbs up and down the slope of her cheekbones and kiss her between her eyebrows.

“I know” Korra whines drawing the syllable and pulls away from her girlfriend. She begins waving her arms in a wild and unbridled motion, “I just wanted to do something nice for you and cook you breakfast instead of buying and now I ruined it!”.

In spite of her girlfriend being distressed, Asami can’t help but giggle at her. She may be the most powerful being in the whole world, but she is also insanely adorable when she is like this. Korra frown is quickly replaced by a besotted smile when she is kissed on the lips.

“Come on, let’s get changed” Asami tells her as she pulls her hand, “we’re going to treat ourselves to a nice breakfast _and then_ we’re going to look for a cooking course for the two of us”.

_VIII. in the drained grey days, you paint the world purple with your brush_

Kissing Asami is Korra’s favorite past time.

At the beginning of the relationship things were, for a lack of a more refined word, awkward.

Before what happened with Zaheer, she had just started to become close friends with Asami, a process that took longer that she would have ever wanted. Once she got to know her, she wished she had known her for the entirety of her life. However, when she finally began feeling comfortable in her presence, she left and spent the following three years at the South Pole, healing, away from everyone else, including Asami. The letters they exchanged between each other weren’t enough, and when she finally saw her again, her heart skipped a beat, and she swore the cold feeling that had taken over her body for so long, vanished to give in a newfound warmth.

She should have known then.

Korra loves kissing Asami.

She loves kissing her hands. They look so delicate and fragile, with her immaculate manicure and a softness that doesn’t belong to someone that works with machinery like her. She kisses the palm of her hand when Asami had a rough hand and she needs something to ground her, even if it’s just her lips. She kisses and massages her knuckles when she is nervous about proposing a new project and it’s in dire need of some reassurance. She kisses the back of her hand when they are both in a good mood and she does a ridiculous attempt at being flirtatious, which usually makes Asami bursts out laughing.

She loves kissing her cheek. Korra always considered herself to be a tall woman, especially when comparing herself with other people in the South People, including the men. Everything changed when she met Asami. She has towered over her for as long as she had known her, and that wasn’t going to change. Although she was upset and jealous of this fact at first, now she loves how tall her girlfriend is. Whereas as she used to think her height was an inconvenient when it came to kissing Asami, now she loves how she has to stand on she tiptoes any time she wants to kiss her cheek.

She loves kissing her hair. The occasions in which she could do it were rare, when taking in consideration the fact that she is shorter than Asami. However, in the moments that she sits on top of her, straddling her waist, she likes to kiss the crown of her head, and feel her silky hair with her lips.

She loves kissing her neck. Their first attempts at furthering their intimacy were clumsy; it was hard, but eventually, they got better at it. Long were gone the blushing and stammering words whenever she tried to anything beyond chaste kisses and hugs. Now they knew each other’s body like their own, and they knew how to play each other like an erhu. As Korra found out one day, Asami loved it when she kissed her neck. Korra loves kissing her in that blest spot, just beneath the angle of her jawline. However, what she loves the most it’s the small whines that she provokes out of Asami when she presses her lips against the tender zone. She could intoxicate and rejoice in that music for the rest of her life.

She loves kissing her shoulder. Korra is aware of the fact that she isn’t the most well-dressed person in the world. It isn’t something that bothers her much; fashion was never her thing and would probably never be. However, even someone like her knew that Asami cared about clothes, and that her taste it’s impeccable. Even though Korra never had much of an eye for fashion, she would always blush and her mouth would dry at the sight of her well-dressed girlfriend. However, there isn’t a moment that she loves the way Asami dress more than when they would assist balls and formal events. In those moments, she strips off her heavy jackets and elaborate shirts and wear tight-fitting dresses that shows off her gorgeous figure. It’s in those moments, when they are both swinging to the music and her bodies are close together, that Korra likes to kiss her bare shoulder, lay her head there, and close her eyes.

-

Kissing Korra is Asami’s favorite past time.

She would have expected the beginning of their relationship to be awkward, but somehow, it only felt right.

Before what happened with Zaheer, she had just started to become close friends with Korra, a process that took longer that she would have ever wanted. Once she got to know her, she wished she had known her for the entirety of her life. However, when she finally began feeling comfortable in her presence, Korra left to spend the following three years at the South Pole, healing, away from everyone else, including her. The letters they exchanged between each other weren’t enough, and when she finally saw her again, her eyes watered, and she swore the hollow feeling that had settled in the pit of her stomach since Korra had left, vanished, and she felt whole.

She should have known then.

Asami loves kissing Korra.

She loves kissing her forehead. Korra frowns a lot. That it’s something that Asami had noticed early in their relationship, and in hindsight, she had probably seen it even when they weren’t friends. There was always something to make Korra frown in concern or frustration. If it wasn’t another insurrection in the Earth Kingdom, it was yet another threat to the new Air Nation, and if it wasn’t that, it was the umpteenth political issue within the Republic City Council. All things considered, Korra had way too much on her plate, especially for someone her age. She had reassured her one night, telling her that it was something all Avatars dealt with, and she was no exception. Asami kept herself quiet at this; there was nothing she could to fix the problem and neither could Korra. The only thing she could do was kiss to the frown between her brows, and hope that she knew she was always going to be there for her.

She loves kissing her temple. There is no huge reason why; it’s just convenient due to their height difference. However, Asami wasn’t unobservant of the way she could make Korra’s whole mood change with just a chaste kiss to her temple. Asami has a hard time understanding what Korra enjoys so much about being kissed on that area, but Asami it’s willing to do it for the rest of her life if it means that she will always smile to her like that.

She loves kissing her back. The first thing Asami had ever noticed about Korra it was that she was more muscular than more women, even more muscular than some of the men she knew. It was the physical attribute that stood out the most for her, and one that was always somewhat intriguing. Now that they were dating each other, it had become something alluring. There were times when she couldn’t keep her eyes from travelling to the well-defined musculature of her biceps, or the hard lines of her stomach. However, her favorite part of Korra’s body was her back. Asami loves how after long day, Korra sits on the bed and she can appreciate the defined, hard-earned muscles of her back. In moments like these, when the city is quieting down and Korra is changing into her pajamas, she likes to crawl towards her and give a chaste kiss between her shoulder blades.

She loves kissing her collarbone. In their first clumsy attempts of intimacy, Asami had a hard time discovering what to do. She knew that Korra liked a kiss on the lips and to wrap her arms around her waist, but that was all she knew. Besides that, Korra was a total enigma to her, and it began getting on her nerves. That was, until one day Korra sat on her lap, under the excuse that Asami needed to stop overworking herself. The new difference in height was strange for both of them, but they soon found a new rhythm that worked for the two of them. Most important, Asami found out how much Korra liked to being kissed on the indent between her collarbones. When Korra pressed her head against there, Asami was more than happy to comply.

She loves kissing her nose. Asami didn’t know people would kiss each other with their noses until she started dating Korra. Well, kissing isn’t the right term. The first time it happened, right after they had woken up and she had given a good morning kiss, Asami was perplexed. The confusion must have been noticeable, because Korra couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Korra traced the slope of her nose as she explained that at the Water Tribes, they would press their noses and their upper lips against the skin of someone as way to greet each other. She clarified seconds later that it was intimate; it could be used among family members, friends, and lovers, but it was always between two people that loved each other deeply. Asami knew her tears were threatening to spill from her eyes and that her smile was so wide that it was going to hurt afterwards, but she couldn’t stop herself from pressing her nose against Korra.

_IX. i yearn for forever, with the tinkling of the glasses filled with champagne_

“This was a terrible idea” Asami slurs, barely contained giggles escaping her mouth, a bottle of lychee wine hanging precariously in her hand.

“What are you talking about?” she teases, her speech coming out even worse than Asami’s, “we’re legally allowed to get drunk in every nation. Even in the Spirit World!” she gestures a wide half circle with her hands and almost falls down to the pavement.

Asami tilts her head to one side. “Do they have a legal drinking age in the Spirit World?” she asks.

Korra rubs a thumb over her chin, as pensive as someone that is highly inebriated can be. She shrugs, the action almost making her fall again, and she holds on to the lamp post for dear life.

Asami takes another sip of the bottle, and she wrinkles her nose in disgust. “I don’t understand how you hate grape wine but love lychee wine. It tastes like jalebis bathed in syrup”.

“Alright, that’s it! You lost your drinking privileges,” Korra seizes the bottle from her girlfriend’s hands. She tries to walk away. Instead, her head falls on her girlfriend’ shoulder as she grumbles something undecipherable to herself.

Asami pats her head, a loving smile gracing her features as she takes the bottle back. “I think _you_ are the one that lost your drinking privileges”.

Korra lifts her head and stare at her through half-lidded eyes. There is something disarming in the way that she is glancing at her, like she is looking straight through the tendrils of her soul. It’s so deliciously debilitating that Asami decides to sit down the two of them on the verge of the pavement.

“You know,” Korra starts unprompted, “I always thought you were criminally beautiful. Anyone would want to be with you”.

Asami is taken aback by her confession. She will always be extremely grateful for the relationship they managed to have in spite of their less-than-ideal beginning as acquaintances and then friends, but she doesn’t know what Korra is talking about.

“I guess part of me was jealous,” Korra continues,” I mean, part of me _wanted_ to be you at some point, but then we started to get closer and those feelings got more confusing,” she shrugs and her lips turns upwards. For several minutes, the night air is permeated by just the silence between them.

“Korra?” Asami prompts.

Korra turns her torso towards her and lays each of her hands on Asami’ shoulders. “It wasn’t until I came back that I realized; I wanted to be with you. Just you”.

Her eyes are shimmering, partially due to the intoxication and partially due to the veracity of the words spoken. Asami feels her eyes stinging and strives to stop the tears from falling down her face.

She stares at Korra, deep through her cyan eyes, that give away the depth of her feelings. She wonders if Korra can see the same thing in her eyes.

“Marry me” they both say at the same time, sending them on a fit of giggles. Korra places her head on her shoulder.

“I mean it though,” she twists her neck so she can stare into her eyes, “marry me”.

Asami holds her jaw, her fingers pressing into the flesh of her cheeks and smacks her lips against her. She bites her lower lip, allowing her entrance to explore the insides of her mouth. Asami grasps her by the waist, twisting her body so she can be slightly on top of her.

The contrast between the hot humid breath they are sharing and the cold dry air typical of the season sends Korra a chill down her spine, making the hairs behind her nape stand up like needles.

Although they eventually pull away hastily when they hear footsteps approaching, they remain close to each other, their foreheads touching.

“Did that answer your question?” Asami breathed, trying to keep the smile forming on her face with no avail.

“Well,” Korra strokes her chin and purses her lips, “you didn’t actually say yes or no” she teases.

Asami beams brightly, grabs her by the front of the fabric of her shirt and pulls her into another kiss.

_X. because as long as you live, I am home_

Asami looks at herself in in the body-length mirror in front of her. Her white kimono looks pristine, the left lap crossing over the right side of her chest. The clothing reaches the floor made of stone blocks, but it never wrinkles in its expansion. Her outer robe is a mixture of shades of cream white that reminds her of moon flowers and the orangish red of bacui berries. The fabric is embellished with fire lilies; to symbolize fiery purity and passion, her mother told her once. She tightens the grip of the matching belt around her waist on top of her sash, trying to ignore the nagging voice in her head that won’t leave her alone.

There are a lot of traditions she won’t be able to follow.

It’s customary for the families of the bride and the groom (or in her case, the families of the bride and the bride) to meet each other several times before the actual wedding ceremony could happen. Her parents weren’t alive to discuss with Korra’s parents about the terms of the ceremony or the price of it.

Neither of them had an uncle to oversee the preparations of the wedding. Unalaq was long gone (and even if he were alive, Asami doubts Korra would have welcomed him at their wedding) and Asami never had an uncle. After talking it out, the both of them decided to ask Tenzin. Asami had to laugh a little when the usually solemn and formal man shed a couple of tears and hugged the two of them, congratulating them in the step they were taking in their lives.

She wants more than anything to have her mother with her right now. She wonders what her parents would say about her: would they be happy for her? Proud? She had mentioned some of these thoughts to Tarloq and Senna in a moment of weakness one night when they were visiting the South Pole. She can’t remember the words in exact detail due to her eyes immediately watering at the sole mention of her parents’ death. However, she does remember the sensation of their strong arms pressing her towards them and the softness and comfort in their voices. Most importantly, she can still recall the way they said they were her family now, and the fierce sincerity in their statement that reassured her that they meant the words spoken.

Her hair is done in a updo, with a giant topknot taking the center of attention, ornamented by a couple of pink cherry tree flowers all over her hair. She accommodates the white floss silk going through her locks and finishing on the center of her bun. She grabs the rectangular piece of white cloth and places it on her head.

She wonders what Korra is wearing right now. As she had told her after Varrick’s wedding, they tended to do things in a simpler way in the South Pole, and that Varrick was just an eccentric man. The only thing she had insisted that her wedding needed was dancing, something that was needed in all sorts of rituals and ceremonies. Asami was more than happy to agree to it.

She opens the antique tiny wooden box and gets the small hairpiece out of it. She holds it in her hand, while the other traces the intricate details of the silver hair pin in the shape of a thin branch with small panda lilies, garnished at the ends with tiny speckles indigo azurite. It took her weeks of never-ending nights of wielding metal, but she is proud of the result that manages to combine her Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom heritages.

She can’t wait to see the betrothal necklace carved for her when they exchange them in the formal ceremony before the official party.

She may not have her parents with her anymore, but she knows she will always have a family.

-

It’s when they unwind in the comfort of their bedchamber and after celebrating one of the most important of their lives, that Korra and Asami can kiss each other, a peaceful glee taking over their bodies with the knowledge that they will spend the rest of their lives together.

**Author's Note:**

> Title based on 'And Then She Kissed Me' by St. Vincent.


End file.
